The Olympics of Germs; Avoiding Illness in Crowds

Massive crowds from around the globe are converging on London during the Olympics, which means a world-class array of germs will mix with them. Mayo Clinic infectious diseases expert and director of the Vaccine Research Group at Mayo Clinic, Gregory Poland, M.D., says whenever you’re in a venue with hundreds of thousands of people, particularly from all corners of the world, you automatically run increased risk of disease. “The big ones that we’re worried about in terms of the Olympics are things that are currently epidemic in certain parts of the world, including the U.S. Those would include pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, and of course, when you have people coming from the Southern Hemisphere, this is their influenza season.”